Fire Lance
by Petrovic.exe
Summary: [AU] The tension in the Elemental Nations has risen again, and when war looms on the horizon Naruto gets drafted into a specialized training program. There he will find both hardship and camaraderie. One of which he already had plenty, and one of which he had never known.
1. Chapter 1

A/N

I have come to a point where I struggle to find a story worth reading (hit me up with recommendations!), so I figured I might have a go at it myself. So bear with me while I try to piece together something somewhat worthwhile.

Something I would like to address before I start, I really like Naruto. Even through plot holes, talk no jutsu and general bullshit no jutsu I still really like it. When Naruto first syncs with Kurama is one of my favorite moments, I do however feel that the series massively outgrew its original intended scope. When we look at the Wave arc, we see feats that are by the end of the show fairly basic. But at this point these feats are heralded as some of the most advanced ninja techniques. Now you could argue that this is only logical since Naruto grows and gets stronger as the show goes on so everything around him would too, and you would have a fair point. However, could you still truly call the characters ninjas at the end of the show. Everything is super flashy and stealth is barely present anymore while I feel that Kishimoto originally intended for less flashiness and more stealth. Therefore I would like to try and make this story follow the original scope of the story and focus more on actually being a ninja, instead of somewhat of a juggernaut. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.

Summary:

People who know Hiruzen Sarutobi will tell you he is a kind old man who above all else loves his village Konoha. But as Konoha's Hokage sometimes Hiruzen must act in ways he would rather not. Tensions in the Elemental Nations have risen to a boiling point and war is all but unavoidable. Iwa and Kumo have formed a tentative alliance, Kiri is as bloodthirsty as ever and the Sand's promises of alliances appear to be empty words. All the while the minor nations are getting more angsty and unpredictable by the minute. With a heavy heart Hiruzen realizes that yet another generation of kids was going to end up fighting a war they were by all rights way too young for. So he might as well try to prepare some of these kids as best he could.

* * *

Chapter 1

At seven and a bit years old Uchiha Sasuke had already experienced more hardship then the average civilian did in a lifetime. The older brother he had adored, had looked up to as a role model even, had slaughtered every single one of his family members. His father, his mother, his uncles, his cousins, everyone, down to the last child. But not him. No, he had to live on, chasing after power so he could avenge his family, his clan.

It was dark in his house, he hadn't had a single light on since the massacre, it must have been months now. His life was in an eternal cycle of hate, anger and the want for everything to be right again. But things would never be truly right again, but he would try his hardest to set right what he cold set right, starting with retribution against Itachi. It seemed like it might not be too long until he could get started on getting stronger. Originally everything at the Academy had been a joke, but recently they had been stepping up the curriculum. Actual combat situations were taught and discussed, theory tests had become a thing of the past, while practical exams were daily now. Most of his classmates had been complaining, they were unprepared for some hard work and the requirement of effort. Sasuke looked down on those people, they had truly expected ninja live to be a cakewalk. Foolish and naive is all they were.

Sasuke was a perceptive kid, and had noticed that the mood among chuunin and jounin had been getting ghastlier for a few months now, that coupled with the Academy suddenly taking itself seriously Sasuke figured that some form of conflict was on the horizon. He could only hope that the coming struggle would be dire enough that Academy students would need to be send to the front lines, after all no experience was better then some practical hands-on experience. A war would suit Sasuke's purposes just fine.

Slowly he got up from the meditative position he had been in for the last few hours, his perception of time lost but he could tell it must be sometime at night. That suited him just fine, he had taken a liking to the nocturnal half of the day. Significantly less stares was one of the benefits, the ones filled with compassion were the worst. Another plus was that most civilians slept, preventing them from trying to please and assist him at every turn. They pretended to understand him and his situation, all the while trying to curry favor with him, no doubt looking to call in the 'debt' at a later date. Those people were comparable to the 'special snowflakes' at the Academy, a waste of oxygen and more importantly, space.

He slid open the door leading to the abandoned streets and stepped out. Even though he knew they were no longer there, he could still see the blood splatters and trails in the streets and on the walls. Steeling his resolve he made his way towards the training grounds within the compound. Training under the moonlight had been his one comfort since the massacre, the night gave a comfort he had not expected it to give and the training allowed him to focus on something else for a while, only to crash back into reality when the sun inevitably rose.

* * *

There was another in Konoha experienced in life far beyond his years, an orphan since birth, hated for reasons unbeknownst to him and forced to scavenge the streets for food and other supplies. And as such Uzumaki Naruto roamed the streets, looking for anything of use, money, weapons, even shelter. He had been kicked out of the orphanage for roughly a year now, he didn't understand why but he had been told that a freak like him wasn't welcome anymore and that his bed was better given to some poor unfortunate orphan. He had long ago learned that it was best not to draw attention to himself, that more often then not lead to trouble. In the Academy the teachers would ridicule him for asking questions, saying that it was his fault for not paying attention. He paid far more attention than most the other excuses for students did, thank you very much. In the streets at daytime people would yell various slurs at him, while during nighttime or in some of the darker alleys people often attempted to rob him of the possessions he had. On very few occasions did he managed to keep all of his possessions, a lot of the profits of his scavenge runs had been lost in this fashion.

Naruto despised the civilians of Konoha for their unexplained hatred of him, he despised the Academy teachers for being biased against him, he despised his fellow Academy students for being favored by the teachers, he despised the ninja for never being of any help, for even being part of some of the robberies, he despised the shopkeepers for refusing to sell him anything, he despised the Hokage for being loved by all, but above all else he truly despised himself for being so weak that he could do nothing to stop any of it.

Every night he promised himself that someday it would be different, someday he would be strong enough to not take any shit from anyone. But until then he was stuck doing his scavenge runs, and getting as much training in as possible. Lately the Academy had thankfully stopped being a complete waste of time and they had actually started teaching useful things. Naruto really didn't want to be a ninja, they were just a corrupt lot after all. But it was undeniable that becoming a ninja put one on the path towards power, and power was what Naruto desired above all else. So he had deemed being a ninja better then the alternative, remaining weak.

Quietly he stalked through one of the back alleys in the market district, looking for any goods the shopkeepers might have left behind or dumped. It really surprised him what people would throw away, most of the stuff was still perfectly usable. He had more then one rusty kunai or shuriken in his possession, sure they might not be optimal anymore but they would still kill a man just fine. Alas it seemed that this night would be one of scarce results, he had found a single discarded apple that had served as his only meal for the day.

As his last destination for the night he headed to the dumpster of his apartment, for as much as it could be called even that. The Hokage had gotten wind of the fact that he had been kicked out of the orphanage and had arranged a simple apartment and a monthly allowance for him, a fat load of good that had done. Money had no value to Naruto, after all the value of money depended in what people would trade you in return for a certain amount of it. But there was not a single shopkeeper or peddler in the village that would take his money. As a result he had build up quite a bit of it, hidden away in one of his hidden caches around the village. The apartment on the other hand was just a massive target on his back, after all he was the village's favorite person to bully in one way or another, and having a stationary residence would not contribute favorably to that situation. So Naruto had made a point out of it to spend as least time there as possible and to absolutely never sleep there.

The apartment did however serve him one favorable benefit. Trashing his apartment in one way or another had become among the village's favorite activity, and the vandals occasionally left behind some stuff of value. He had found multiple kunai, shuriken and senbon like this, he had even found an explosive tag and a soldier pill once. Being tentatively hopeful and on full alert for any sign of danger Naruto entered his apartment through the small bathroom window and started to search for scavenge.

* * *

Hiruzen sat in his office looking at the papers in front of him, on those papers were his plans for training program he had designed, Fire Lance. He had been staring at them for the better part of the night. Debating with himself about the need to make it all reality. If he was honest with himself it was already way too late to back out, preparations had been made, people had been sworn to secrecy, and enemy spies had been quietly executed. But just for the most of this night he had wanted to not have this on his conscience yet, these kids would beyond a doubt never be the same again. Next to him on his desk stood an empty sake bottle and the tobacco in his pipe had long since been burned up. With a sigh he called his ANBU and told them to set the plan in motion. No turning back now.

* * *

Sasuke entered the Hokage Tower flanked by the two ANBU that had been sent to fetch him. The two had appeared during his nightly training and told him in no uncertain words that he was expected to appear before the Hokage immediately. Now this would probably worry most people, but Sasuke was not most people. He was acutely aware of his significance in the village and was thus aware that he was a valuable asset. Whatever he had done that garnered the attention of that Hokage - and he honestly had no idea what he had done to cause that - he was fairly certain that whatever the consequences were that they would not be too severe.

When he entered the office of the Hokage he was surprised to find that he was apparently not the only one that had been summoned. In the office stood several other ANBU but also five other kids roughly his age. He recognized one of the two girls from being a year below him in the Academy and the whiskered blond guy from being a year above him. The other three seemed vaguely familiar, Sasuke figured that they must also attend the Academy. They were all in a line standing at attention in front of the Hokage's desk and when he felt a not so subtle nudge in his back he made to join them.

The Hokage seemed to be focusing on some papers he had in front of him and ignoring them for the moment. Sasuke wondered what could be written on those that made them import enough to have to be read deep in the night.

"I see you have all arrived," he spoke after several more minutes. The kind and grandfatherly attitude that the Hokage so often wore was completely absent and replaced by the demeanor of a war-hardened leader. "I am sure you all wonder why you were called here in the dead of night."

He was met with several tentative nods form some of the others, the children not fully aware of the etiquette yet, and being unsure if some sort of response was expected. The blond boy, some black-haired kid and he himself however remained still, while the Hokage's calculating gaze went over them.

"You have all been selected based on a list of factors that will not be revealed to you," the Hokage informed them, eliciting several frowns. "I am sure some you, and truthfully I hope all of you, have noticed the increased tension in the ninja around you. Now, I am not going to beat around the bush, there is a war coming. Who we will be fighting and where we will fight them remains to be seen but war is certain to come. As such a special training program has been set up for a select few. You six are those selected few."

Now to Sasuke this sounded like music to his ears, this worked right into his own agenda. The war was indeed coming, he would be fighting in it and receiving special training on top of that. He would get to start hunting Itachi a lot sooner then he had thought it seemed.

"There is something else you should be aware of," The Hokage continued. "You will either accept to be drafted into this program, or you will be removed from the Academy and be prohibited from becoming a ninja ever again. Those who wish to take the second option should leave now."

There was a loaded silence as Sasuke waited for someone to leave, but when after a few seconds no one did one of the ANBU stepped forward and removed his mask, revealing a scarred face.

"Good job soldiers, welcome to Fire Lance."

* * *

A/N

That's the first chapter. It is relatively short, but I just wanted to get my idea written up and it is currently 3 at night for me. I intend to use both Naruto and Sasuke as consistent POV characters, but if you have thoughts on that or on anything else by all means let me know. I am also debating the identity of what will essential be the drill sergeant. I am considering Kakashi for the roll, but a drill sergeant is not a very nice person and it will thus paint Kakashi in a rather negative light and I am not sure how I feel about that. The alternative would be Ibiki, let me know how you guys feel about this.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As soon as all of them had agreed to join Fire Lance the group had instantly departed from the Hokage's office and set off towards the gate, led by the man with the scarred face. There had been no time to retrieve any personal belongings or anything else they might have wanted. Not that this particularly bothered Naruto, he didn't possess much of anything, and most certainly nothing of value. He had learned early on that becoming attached to any belongings would just set him up for loss and grief later on. But is seemed that his life had just taken a major turn, from a despised reject orphan, to being selected for a special training program. It did of course still require him to be a ninja, but beggars cant be choosers after all. He did wonder how these other kids were going to be, he really hoped that the training was going to be individual. Naruto didn't have the greatest social skills, and preferred to rely on himself, so far others had only let him down. He did sincerely hope that they would at least be able to carry their weight if he were to be forced to work with them. Because no way in his was he gonna carry their dead weight.

Naruto, the six other kid and the adult who appeared to be their guide walked through the main gate into the dark of the night. Naruto wondered how long it would be until he set his next step in Konoha. probably quite a while. First he had to go through Fire Lance - and Kami knew how long that was going to take - and after there would be a war to fight. And given the special training that was going to be invested in him, he wasn't going to be some run of the mill soldier that was allowed temporally leave to visit Konoha. Truthfully, Naruto reveled in the realization. What had Konoha ever done for him that would make him feel attachment to it, it had thrown him in the trash and left him there. No, loyalty was not a quality that Naruto possessed.

He wasn't quite sure how much time had passed, but the trees had kept flying by and they had to be quite a ways away by now, Naruto wondered if they were even still in the Land of Fire. But truthfully, how was he supposed to know; what he knew of distance was learned from walking around Konoha, and in this time he could have circled Konoha many times. And he only knew about the size of the Land of Fire from the minor Geography that they had taught in the Academy, but how people were able to accurately judge distance of a map remained a mystery to Naruto.

It wasn't long until they left the trees and landed on the floor. Naruto looked around himself but couldn't see anything that would indicate that they had reached any sort of destination.

"It is roughly two hours until the sun rises," The scarred man told them. "Get some rest until then, we will continue at first light."

They moment the last word came out of his mouth he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Quietly Naruto looked around himself, looking for a spot that might serve him as a resting place for a few hours, it wouldn't be the first time he had scouted for a place to sleep. He saw a spot in between some thick tree roots that would provide about as much comfort as you could find on the floor of a forest, but it would limit his vision and escape options should he need them. In the end he settled for a fairly large low hanging tree branch with moderate foliage and seated himself with his back on the trunk and one leg on either side of the branch. He had a decent view on the floor below him, but the foliage provided enough that someone would not instantly be able to spot him.

Once settled he looked around to see what the other had done. Two of the boys appeared to just have dropped where they had stood and were fast asleep already, Naruto's opinion of them dropped severely. Obviously these two had never had to sleep anywhere that wasn't fully and completely safe. The two girls among them seemed to have stuck together and had taken the crevice in between the roots Naruto had spotted earlier, one of them appeared to be sleeping while the other was awake and trying to remain vigil. If they had truly banded together and coordinated some sort of changing of the watch later on Naruto was satisfied with their approach. Although he did question where the instant trust between the two of them had come from. The concept of trust was somewhat foreign to him, the idea of putting his own safety in the hands of someone else truthfully send a shiver down his spine. After all, sooner or later they will turn their back on you.

Naruto struggled to locate the location that the remaining boy had chosen, but after some minutes of scouting he eventually spotted him half hidden under a bush a decent distance away, but not so far away that he could be considered alone. From the distance Naruto couldn't see if he was awake but he hoped he was, the guy seemed the most confident out of the lot and would probably contribute the most should anything happen.

Some time later, Naruto estimated around twenty minutes, Naruto started to feel the pull of sleep and began struggling to stay awake. But he had been awake for at least twenty hours now and his spot against the trunk had begun to feel suspiciously comfortable. Just as he started loosing the battle against the inevitable descend of his eyelids, he saw multiple feathers falling in front of him, and for a split seconds his eyes went wide open before they fell victim to the genjutsu and closed, now fast asleep.

* * *

Naruto abruptly awoke to the sudden feeling of cold and wetness. His eyes flew open and he instantly cringed away from the bright light that invaded his eyes. Next to him he heard another loud splash before his ears got assaulted.

"DEAD! That's what the lot of you are, DEAD!" The voice bellowed.

Casting his eyes towards the origin of the voice while he quickly got to his feet he spotted a silver haired man, with a cloth mask covering most of his face including one eye. The scarred man that had previously been leading them was nowhere to be seen. As soon as he got to his feet the masked man instantly struck him hard in the face with the back of his hand, making Naruto fall down again.

"Dead man don't stand!"

In a daze Naruto lay on the floor with spots swarming his vision, he had been struck before but never like this. He could feel the blood running in his mouth already, he could swear his teeth had been more steadily secured before and his brain felt like it still bounced around against his skull.

"Any more corpses suddenly feel like standing?" The man asked, his one visible eye almost glowing with condescension.

As expected no one seemed to feel the need to stand, not desiring to be on the receiving end of what Naruto had just received. A loaded silence followed, with the kids on the floor not daring to move, and the man looming over them like judge, jury and executioner.

"Stand." He eventually spat out, as if it pained him to say words.

Slowly Naruto stood up, seeing that the others did the same, although none of them appeared to be doing it with the most confidence. Eventually they all stood before the man, and he towered of them quite a bit. Having a quick look around without actually moving his neck, Naruto saw that were in an enclosed room with blank white walls and bright white lights on the ceiling. The only door that he could spot was directly behind the masked man.

"You're.." One the kids beside him started to speak before finding him pinned to the ground in a split second.

"Who told you you could speak!?" The masked man demanded, continuing to painfully pin the boy to the floor. Naruto could swear he hadn't blinked, and he still had not been able to see the man move. One moment he was standing in front of him and the next he was pinning the boy to the floor.

After a quick stare down that the masked man easily won and a whimpered apology from his victim he got off the boy and returned to the position he had occupied before.

"I pity all the people who will surely die if you lot are truly among the best the next generation has to offer." He berated them. "The first night out of the village, THE FIRST NIGHT, and already you have fallen victim to an ambush!"

In the silence that followed Naruto felt very uncomfortable, the man's gaze was passing over all of them but when his eyes met Naruto's Naruto couldn't help but feel infinitely insignificant and incapable. He suspected the others felt much the same.

"As long as I waste my time here trying to whip you ants into satisfactory form you may refer to me as Captain Inu." He eventually broke the silence. "Past the door behind me on the left is your dorm room, there are beds and bedding there. I expect you make your beds and be standing in front of them ready for inspection within five minutes."

And just like that he was gone, the only sign that he had been there before being a few leaves scattered over the floor. Everyone seemed in a daze for a second longer before they all realized that they had been given a job and a time limit on top of that. As one, they all scrambled out of the room, finding themselves in a long and seemingly endless hallway. Finding the first door on the left to indeed be their dorm they quickly entered and selected a bed. Naruto quickly made his way to one of the beds furthest from the door but retaining perfect view of the door. It was a vaguely oval room, with a door in both of the sharp bends, although the door opposite of the one they came in from was more of a doorway without an actual door. There were three beds along either side of the room, his bed was against the right side of the room. The bed next to his on the other side of the door-less doorway was quickly claimed by the black-haired boy. He had probably chosen it for the same reason that Naruto had chosen his.

On his bed Naruto found the bedding just where he was told it would be. He tried to make sense of it, but he had never really made a bed before. In his brief stay in the orphanage his bed had always been made for him, the single night he had spend in his apartment he hadn't bothered and all his other sleeping places didn't really subscribe to the concept of bedding.

Naruto was still struggling with what went where, when he heard the door open and he quickly stood at attention in front of his bed, inwardly cringing at the state of his bed behind him and dreading the consequences of his failure. Because of his choice of bed he was third in line for inspection, the other two beds along his side of the room had been claimed by the two girls of the group and they were getting inspected first. Captain Inu glanced at the first bed he inspected, not even giving the girl a glance. From the corner his eye Naruto could just see her bed, and it seemed fine to him, good even. But then again, what did he know. Without a word Captain Inu moved on to the next bed apparently approving of the way the bed had been made. Naruto could not see the next while continuing to keep his head forward, but he could hear Captain Inu had stopped moving again.

"Tomorrow your pillow case will be on the right way." Inu told her after a few seconds. "Fifty push-ups for failing to present your bed properly."

Next to him Naruto heard the girl get on the floor and start doing the push-ups. But if she had to do fifty push-ups for what Naruto surmised to be a minor shortcoming he dreaded his own inspection. His entire face still ached from before and he wasn't keen on a repeat performance, or even worse. When Inu stood in front of his bed he remained quiet significantly longer.

"What is this?" He questioned eventually.

"My bed, Captain Inu." Naruto answered with a thundering heart.

"I see." Inu answered. "You will start doing push-ups until I tell you to stop, and your bed _will_ be presentable tomorrow."

The 'or else' was left hanging in the air but Naruto got the message loud and clear. Quickly he got on the floor and started on his punishment. Captain Inu had held the silence so long that when Naruto started, the girl next to him was already done with her fifty. It was hard for Naruto to follow how the rest of the inspection went, but he could tell the boy next to him had done an adequate job, while the other two boys also got an admonishment of some sort.

By the time that Inu addressed Naruto again he was already feeling the strain from his push-ups and was struggling harder to lift himself up again, he hadn't exactly counted but he thought he was well over a hundred by now. Naruto only saw the man's sandals in front of his own hands, but he could imagine the look in Inu's sole eye quite vividly.

"Stop." Inu eventually said after what felt like ages to Naruto.

Slowly Naruto got up, already feeling sore and dreading how he was going to feel in the morning.

"The room adjacent to this one," Inu said while gesturing at the doorway next to Naruto's bed. "is the bathroom. I expect all of you to retain proper hygiene." And after seeing the looks on the faces of the two girls he added; "Yes there is only one bathroom. There is no room for modesty in a combat situation and there will be no room for it here. We will start training tomorrow I expect you all to be well rested."

And after having said that Inu left and Naruto got the first bit of rest he had had in hours. Almost immediately he fell backwards on his bed, momentarily not caring for the state of his bedding. That could be fixed later. And from the sounds coming from the rest of the room he gathered that the other occupants had done much the same.

"Anyone else feel like we might regret coming here?" One of the boys asked from his bed.

Naruto snorted, while some of the other also laughed lightly. It would indeed seem that their time here was not going to be easy, but he had never expected it to be. Nothing worth doing ever was.

"I am Haru by the way," The same boy said. "Hatori Haru."

Haru was a fairly lanky boy, tall for his age but not having a lot of weight or bulk. Naruto thought he must have been in one of the Academy years below his, he didn't recognize him but he had to have had some sort of prior ninja training. He had long brown almost reddish hair tied in a pony tail behind his head, his eyes were dark almost black, but from his body language and some other clues Naruto guessed that he wasn't the most outspoken of individuals. His most distinguishing features were his darker skin and a jagged scar running from his nose to his left ear. He currently wore a beige baggy sweater and black standard ninja pants, with the bottom as wrapped in bandages and his feet in standard blue sandals. He had been one of the guys that had fallen asleep in the middle of the clearing.

After his introduction he appeared to be waiting for others to follow suit, but it remained quiet, the only noise being the ragged breathing from those that had received punishments from Inu earlier. Naruto certainly didn't feel the need to speak up, a low profile was good after all, and he still held on to a sliver of hope that training would be individual.

"Come on guys," He said in and exasperated but also somewhat pleading tone. "We are going to be stuck with each other for a while."

With a sigh the guy next to Haru spoke up, "I guess you are right. I am Saito Khan, pleased to meet you."

Physically Khan was the complete opposite of Haru, he was muscular but on the shorter side, like someone had tried to put as much muscle in as small a volume as possible. His hair was shaved close to the skull, almost giving off the illusion that he was bald. The small bit of hair that he had appeared to be brown, but Naruto wasn't certain. He was wearing dark red cargo shorts and a grey tank top, leaving his arms bare. On both of his arms he had a tattoo, but Naruto couldn't detect any image or pattern if there was one. His green eyes lay deep in there sockets but they almost glowed with live. Khan had been the other of the two to fall asleep in the clearing earlier.

Following the order of the beds it was the turn of the boy in the bed next to Naruto.

"Uchiha Sasuke"

He appeared to be just as motivation for this impromptu social gathering as Naruto was. But the fact that this was Uchiha Sauke was rather interesting. Of course Naruto only knew Sasuke from name and the fact that he was the last Uchiha. If Naruto remembered correctly - and he did - Sasuke had been in the Academy year directly below his. He hadn't given it any thought before, but Naruto surely thought that he would be a too high value asset to be send to a new training program like this, but the evidence to the contrary sat on the bed next to his. Sasuke was a guy of average size with the stereotypical Uchiha black eyes and black hair, although his seemed to naturally grow backwards. As of yet Naruto couldn't really see anything that would make him stand out, but he figured that a blazing red Sharingan would become his calling card in a few years.

Naruto resigned himself to the fact that it was his turn now going by the order of the beds.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." Unlike what Sasuke had done - who had conveyed utter disinterest in his introduction - Naruto tried to convey the fact that he wanted to be left alone. His introduction came out as a mixture between pride and arrogance, not exactly what he'd hoped for, but he hoped it would do the job.

"I am Yamanaka Asami," The girl on the bed next to him said, and then jabbed a thumb at the other female in the room. "I am her twin."

Asami was a girl with long pale blond hair that she wore loose, she had bright purple eyes and her ears were pierced with small iron studs in them. Her body was very lithe and acrobatic, of the sort that was decisively female. Naruto had no idea if she - or her sister - had been in the Academy. Because like Sasuke, they hailed from a prestigious clan it could be possible that they had not gone to the Academy and had instead received training exclusively from fellow clan members. On a side note the fact that they were sisters explained why they had been so quick to trust each other in the clearing earlier. She wore a dull blue single piece tight-fitting dress that reached to just above her knees and her legs were covered by leggings that were a shade darker blue than her dress. She had also been the one that had failed to present her pillowcase correctly earlier.

"And I am Yamanaka Kitori," The last person in the room yet to be introduced followed up, with barely any time between the introduction of her sister. "I am also Asami's _older _sister."

The fact that Kitori specifically mentioned that she was the older one of the two earned her a dirty glare from Asami, age was always a tender subject for the younger half of a twin. Kitori had the same shade of hair as her sister, but she kept it short and in a bun behind her head, giving her an overall more mature look. She sported the same earrings that her sister did, but in her right ear she had and additional small band of what appeared to be bronze. She wore a purple short sleeved shirt that looked to be made out of some sort of extra sturdy material and black baggy pants that went to just over her knees. Contrary to her sister - who seemed to be more easygoing - she carried around an attitude of confidence and seriousness.

"So," Khan said after a few seconds, while he got off his bed and made a show of smelling his tank top and armpits. "Who wants to use the bathroom first?"

Khan quickly peeked into the shower room, seemingly gone to inspect the quality of the showers. Naruto didn't care much for the quality, showers were almost automatically an upgrade over bathing in the river. And that wasn't even considering that the showers would most likely have warm water coming out of them.

"There are six shower heads and two sinks in there," Khan reported when he came back into the dorm. "It actually looks pretty good considering we are probably in some sort of military base."

Both the girls were looking decidedly uncomfortable though. While they had just been told by Inu that modesty was not going to be a thing while they were here, one does not just abandon modesty just like that. Double so for women who tended to value modesty more then men. Haru also seemed to have caught on to their discomfort, but unlike Naruto he appeared to be willing to appease them somewhat.

"We could make some sort of schedule, girls first and then the guys. Or the other way around?" He asked, but Naruto also detected a hint of hope and desperation in his voice, maybe Haru wasn't the most pleased about the lack of modesty either.

Contrary to Haru, the girls and perhaps others Naruto had no difficulty about the lack of modesty. Perhaps it would be better to say that Naruto had no modesty. Naruto wore clothes because it would be cold without, and in summer he wore clothes to avoid the wroth of those that had modesty. After all, children were taught modesty by their parents. You would never see a baby ashamed about their lack of clothing, modesty was taught. And in absence of parents modesty was often taught by a replacing guardian and others around them. Naruto had never had parents, his replacing guardian had cared nothing for him and thrown him out of the orphanage, and Naruto had no people around him that cared. Thus no one had taught Naruto modesty, he had eventually come to understand the concept but failed to see why people valued it so highly. And so without a word Naruto stripped himself of clothing and entered the showers, willfully ignorant to the surprised reactions coming from the dorm.

After a minute or so under the - warm - water, Sasuke and Khan joined him in the shower. A little while later Haru also joined them, only taking off his underwear as soon as the girls could no longer see him, in his mind he probably still clung to his schedule and telling himself that it was the boys' turn to shower. The girls never showed up, but Naruto hadn't truthfully expected them to. When he was done and dried, he walked out of the shower and into the dorm again, causing the girls to quickly look away and blush. Naruto really hoped that they would get over themselves soon, in his opinion their behavior held no place in the situation that they found themselves in.

In absence of any form of clean clothes and not wanting to put on the dirty ones after he just showered, Naruto immediately slithered under the messy blankets on his bed and fell asleep, utterly exhausted. He would try to make his bed in the morning.

* * *

Sasuke lay in his bed wide awake, he was thankful for the comfort that his bed provided him, but he would likely not get much sleep if any at all. Tomorrow his journey would truly start, the journey that would end with the death of Itachi. Tomorrow the kiddy gloves would finally come off and he would start getting real ninja training. Sure, lately the Academy had been getting more serious in their training but it was still the Academy and they taught kids in the Academy. Sasuke didn't get the impression that Fire Lance really considered them kids, and Sasuke was all the more pleased for it. He was sure that the little showing that Captain Inu had given them earlier - both when they were woken up and in the dorm just now - would have people screaming in outrage.

Not any of the true ninja of course, but Konoha housed many civilians and some of those had gotten it in their head that they were entitled to an opinion. And like the true appeaser that the Hokage was, he had done exactly that, appease. And so the civilians had eventually gotten a minor say in matters that solely pertained ninja, and it all went downhill from there. The Academy was to be adapted to be more suited towards kids that had come from civilian life, kids that had never held a single kunai before entering the Academy. The jutsu that were being taught were only the most basic, jutsu that any halfwit with the smallest pool of chakra should be able to pull off. Increasing theory lessons had taken a huge chunk out of the time previously allotted to practical subjects. It was fair to say Sasuke wasn't very impressed with the Academy or the civilian side of Konoha. And that wasn't even speaking about their annoying near god-like worshiping of him.

Sasuke was more then ready for Fire Lance and all that it would throw at him, and with that thought in mind he eventually managed to catch some sleep after all.

* * *

A/N

Somewhat of a gateway chapter for us to get into the more exciting stuff. I apologize about the tedious introduction of a bunch of characters, but it kind of had to happen. Hit me up with feedback and suggestions if you feel so inclined.


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